Kohur GowriSankaran

“McGill is my life!” exclaims Kohur GowriSankaran. “I am part of McGill, and McGill is part of me.” Since coming to the University in 1968, GowriSankaran, now Professor Emeritus in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, has donated regularly to the Faculty and Staff Fund, supporting the Edward Rosenthall Mathematics and Statistics Library as well as other initiatives.

GowriSankaran has donated time and energy as well as money. He served for 16 years on the McGill Senate and another ten on the Board of Governors, and is a member of the McGill Association of University Teachers Council, where he now represents retired faculty. “I retired officially, but not unofficially,” he points out. “I’m in my office every day, doing my research.”

His years at McGill have seen him immersed in the University community. “I’ve worked closely with two principals, as well as faculty deans and department chairs,” he says. “But what I loved most was being with young people. Even after many years of teaching I would learn new things because of these brilliant young minds. This is one reason I loved teaching at McGill: we have very good students. It has been very fulfilling.”

Upon his retirement in 2010, GowriSankaran, along with friends, family and co-workers, raised funds to create the GowriSankaran Prize in Mathematics and Statistics, a $1,000 scholarship awarded annually to a top student in a science honours program with a significant mathematics component.